Sunday, February 12, 2017

AUTHOR OF THE DAY

Rickie Blair

Given that I conjure up stories about murder and mayhem every day, you might think my own life is quite exciting. You’d be wrong. When I’m not hunched over my computer, I’m either struggling with my half-acre garden, discouraging my dog from chasing my cats (she means well!), or thinking about what to have for dinner. (I do that a lot.)

I love to travel, though, and many of my favorite destinations are right here in Canada—from the soaring bank towers of Torontoto the open Prairies, and the snow-capped Rockies to the cobbled streets of old Quebec City. As a financial journalist, I lived in three provinces and traveled across the country. Now I live in southern Ontario, near the shores of Lake Ontario and not far from Niagara Falls. (Surprisingly, I’ve ended up just a few miles from my childhood home.)

Later this year, I’m travelling with friends to India, which has been a lifelong dream of mine. We’ll see the TajMahal, take a boat trip on the Ganges, and look for tigers in Ranthambore National Park. I’m beyond excited!

I’ve been writing stories since I was a child, but I started writing fiction seriously a few years ago, when I began a series of financial thrillers. My Ruby Danger stories are based on real-life cases of fraud and larceny. Ruby’s a troubled young actress with a heart of gold and Hari’s a math genius who’s crazy about her. The stories have darker elements, but I had real fun with the characters.

Then I turned to cozy mysteries, which are much more fun!

The protagonist in my Leafy Hollow Mysteries, Verity Hawkes, travels to the deceptively idyllic Canadian village of Leafy Hollow to search for her missing aunt and blunders into a murder mystery. An Amazon reviewer says it has “quirky characters and clever plot twists.” I hope she’s right, but you’ll have to judge for yourself!

This is a postscript from me: I've read 2 of Rickie's mysteries and they are fantastic. You can see my reviews of recently From Garden to Grave and early last year, I think, Dangerous Allies. You can find my reviews on my the Mystery/Psychological thrillers page